**We're back! The club had managed to fill up one half the international break with footage of Fabio's trip to Trafford and the other half with our internationals finding the back of the net. Goals or assists from Adingra, Traore, Eli, Xhaka and \*deep breath\* Huuuumee had shown they were still on the ball - pun indended.**
Fabio had hit the nail on the nail when speaking about our in his Italian/scouse/Mackem/Brummy?/Dutch accent. To slightly paraphrase him 'the fans want to see the same level of passion from the players that comes from the fans'. Well put Fab. Thank you for your service.
RLB took the chance to take the hotseat and review our squads performance so far. Our squads depth has already been tested by injury, suspension and \*deep breath\* fatigue. Regis confirmed it was just a question of time before everyone would be given a chance to chip in with the mettle we'd shown so far. So far we'd only had disappointments during our 2 losses and no catastrophes. Boring Burnley had been a bit of bad luck and Man U had seen RLB show some proactive aptitude i.e. 'He'd changed stuff when stuff needed changing'. Nordi's work as a newfound winger and Talbi's closes calls had shown that if our forwards had been a fraction sharper, we could've gotten a draw or even more.
Things have look very positive so far and many players have exceeded expectations. It might sound naïve saying 'once things click...' so I won't.
With a shuffle around due to Reinildo being missing. Nordi was given a chance as a fullback, Traore kept his spot after his frenetic debut a fortnight ago and Ballard got a well deserved start. Omar and Noah had shaken off their ailments they'd picked up midweek. We faced Wolves at the bottom of the league, who recently seen their form improve. Given their start to the campaign - that hasn't been hard.
Its started fairly even with Nordi having a whack at goal early on and us being content to sit back in our defence block. Big Dan didn't last ten minutes before winding himself and after waving the physio away and deciding he needed a bit of a line down instead. On nine minutes Wilson broke on Wolves goal and lashed it to the back of the net. Sadly his run wasn't bendy enough and it was instantly ruled offside. A promising start we would look to capitalise on.
Wolves had set up similarly and seem equally content to sit back as we pressed firmly. Some magic from Enzo led to a superb 1-2 from our fullback leading the afternoon's opener from none other than Nordi. Gerrup!
Our defence combined again with Nordi's throw finding Ballard's head, but Hume's diving header could only rattle the post. It was a canny rattle though. We dealt well with a variety of link ups between Gomez and Gomez. Traore continued the falling over competition he was having with himself as he struggled to get into the game. As half time crept up we comfortably moved to one at the back and peppered various balls into the box. Ballard had a crack with his teff after an excellent in-swinging corner from captain Xhaka, but their keeper got hold of it easily.
4 additional minutes were tacked on to the first half. Wolves attempt to show their teeth, but we turned on them like Liam Neeson (The Grey 2011. It's not that good). We saw the first half out with more long throws than I could count.
A good first half we'd dominated with strong play mostly all round. 7 shots, 2 of which were on target and some comfortable defending. 'More of that please'
We kicked off a second half were both sides looked to get a goal early on. The visitors tried this after a slick move with several Gomez's involved, that saw a shot covered and driven wide. Their pressure continued and they even tried jumping on the floor and asking for a penalty. The ref waved it off and the people behind VAR probably laughed. Ten minutes in they'd double their shooting chance as we attempted to soak up the attack.
Omar found Wilson with a perfectly weighted ball, Showing just how quickly things could turn. But the Frenchman's cleverly timed quick shot was off the mark. Traore's successive faux pas saw him replaced with Talbi, who made an instant impact by winning a corner. We remained on the backfoot for the next ten, seemingly happy to sit back and recharge our attacking. The final ball and shooting had been rotten.
20 minutes to go Roefs was tested for the first time, but the flying dutchman made light work of it. Their first shot on target of the afternoon. Talbi zipped a wonderful ball to the back post after a free kick, but BDB (Big Dan Ballard) was caught out by our increasingly slippy pitch and he was unable to convert.
Eli and Gerty and came on for Wilson and Rigg as a light fog descended and the RAWA noisily welcomed them. Enzo won us a free kick inside the final 10. Xhaka tried to find Ballard but by now they had rumbled us and were all over BDB. One set piece lead to another, as an undeterred Nordi tried to find Ballard again to no avail. The visitors surpassed us for shots on targets as our centrebacks had to quash an attack. Luckily the attacker heard the hefty gents coming and promptly shat the bed.
Noah found himself floored with some aches and pains... or he might have just been pretending again. 6 minutes added time were announced as both teams looked to put the match to bed. VAR checked for a potential hand from Ballard but had to settle for a corner which they cocked up too. We did what we do best and made an excellent transition to the other end. Talbi provided an assist so good that one of their fullbacks scored our 3rd goal in stoppage time this season.
The Gomezes threw everything they could for a consolation goal but the wolves left Wearside with their tails between their legs.
A solid defensive display by the Lads at the back and a fairly good show by the lads from the back at the front. I'd like to see Talbi start next week. He makes a difference every time he gets the ball and has now proved he can even make the opposition score against themselves! Who'd have thunk it?
Whilst selling some thing on Facebook marketplace I'd ended up meeting Darren Holloway last night who'd said he was going to today's game to enjoy some pints. While not all of them might have gone down smoothly I'm sure he enjoyed last one.
Clean sheet and back in the top ten. Haway the lads!